UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph
JULIET SAMUEL
1 OCTOBER 2016
Where does history end and the present day begin? It sounds like a trick interview question for Oxford – with a smarty pants answer, like: “Now!” But this strange, metaphysical puzzle is one of the crucial questions that has to be answered by the vast, sprawling and unmanageable Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
The inquiry was launched in 2014 with the worthy goal of uncovering how various institutions had failed to protect children from abuse. It was going to learn lessons, admit wrongdoing and deliver catharsis and recognition for survivors. Instead, the inquiry is in serious trouble. Only the Home Secretary can save it, but she is sitting on the sidelines with her hands up, refusing to get involved. This is a big mistake: Amber Rudd must stop ducking responsibility and step in to stop the whole thing falling apart.
This week has brought public confidence to a new low. The inquiry saw its most senior lawyer, the highly respected QC Ben Emmerson, quit. We learnt that his deputy, Elizabeth Prochaska, left a fortnight ago. It has not heard a single day of evidence and is on its fourth chairwoman, having lost its first three – all judges – to allegations of conflicts of interest or incompetence. Survivors’ groups are in despair.
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